


Finding Sunlight

by Mysterious_Prophetess



Series: Sunshine [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: AU, Gen, Human Experimentation, Some elements of Next Gen, Written pre-Episode Ignis, chapter 13 spoilers, kid character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:59:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13357014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Mysterious_Prophetess
Summary: While wandering through Zegnatus Keep, Noctis finds a child. Rather, the child finds him. A little boy with blond hair, and Noctis's eyes.





	Finding Sunlight

Prompto wasn’t sure if the power outage that freed him from whatever the hell the contraption he’d been bound to was on purpose or an accident. **_Man_** did his wrists and ribs hurt. He glanced around as the power flickered back on and searched for something, anything, to break out of the cell. Another power flicker and the doors snapped open for a moment and that’s all it took for the blond gunner to run out into the prison cellblock. Now time to get out of this hell hole and find a way to the guys. Well, he needed to know where this hellhole was.

“Gotta be some way to figure that out,” Prompto mused a loud. He ran to the end of the hallway and saw there was a security clearance needed to access the doors. Prompto took a shuddering breath in and waved his right wrist over it.

 ** _Access Granted_**.

Well, that meant the place was Nif if his….Prompto walked out into another hallway until he came into a large room full of computer terminals as well as a bank of monitor screens. His empty cell was on display, for some reason.

 _Maybe Ardyn gets a kick out of looking at someone tied up or—_ Prompto’s thoughts came to a grinding halt. He spotted, for a moment— _Noct!_ He scanned the other screens and he glimpsed Iggy and Gladio. They were here! Prompto moved to figure out where Noctis and the others were whenever another monitor caught his eye. It was off to the side, and it seemed to be dimmer on purpose so if you were, say, obsessively looking for a lost friend, you’d miss it entirely. Prompto’s jaw dropped. It was a small child’s room! In it there was a huddled form hiding under a bed.

To recap. He was in some Nif fortress place, the guys were here, and there was a freaking **_kid_** here too.

“ _Ah, so you’ve stumbled across Iedolas’s little_ ** _pet_**. _It’s a shame that, in his lust for power, he forgot all about it. Now the poor dear is all alone in the world and scared witless. Do you think you have what it takes to find him and save him? I’ll even give you a hint: his room is in one of the highest levels of the keep and as a gift, I’ll let you in on where the spare rifles are kept_.”

Prompto grit his teeth. _Ardyn._

Prompto turned and walked out of the control room into a hallway.

“ _Uh, uh, uh, not that way, Dear Prompto_.” A wall moved and revealed an alternate route.

“I don’t trust you, but no _way_ I’m leaving a kid here,” Prompto muttered. As promised, there was a Rapdias machine gun rack right next to a Sagitta sniper rifle case. Prompto picked up one of each, slinging the sniper rifle over his left shoulder and throwing the strap of the rapidas over his right. He looked goofy, but damnit he was making the best of this. On impulse he lined his vest pockets with as many spare clips as possible for each. He was not making _that_ mistake again.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“Thank the Six!” Prompto moaned as he found some sort of break room. He raided the fridge with zero guilt: ifyou were a Nif, your lunch and pop were up for the taking by a Lucian. _He was a Lucian, damn it!_ After his impromptu snack raid, Prompto made his way through another hallway Ardyn had so “generously” made appear. It was a set of stairs that lead upwards. There were also low level daemons. A round from the rapidas as through the head of each and Prompto was at the top of the stairs where strange looking MT’s were moving about like….zombies. Prompto shuddered whenever he realized he knew what lay beneath those masks. One looked at him and _screamed_. It charged him forcing him to empty half a clip into it to make it stop.

“I’m so sorry,” Prompto sobbed. He took out another and had to reload on the fly.

“ _Such ruthless efficiency. Such a shame you were never able to live up to your_ ** _full_** _potential_.”

“Shut-up!” Prompto snarled. The hallway ended with a set of ornate doors. Prompto waved his hand over the keyboard reader and it flashed green. The plush carpeting made Prompto blink a bit.

“ _Though the average Gralean often lived in such destitution that the army was their only way out, the Emperor never went without any creature comforts._ ” Prompto wanted to find Emperor Iedolas and punch him just for this, then beat the shit out of him for everything else. Prompto peaked in every room. Empty save for a few daemons here and there. Prompto gulped and took them out before he found the last two rooms. He couldn’t enter the one.

 _Must be Iedolas’s chambers_. The other he opened it and it was the kid’s room.

“Hello? Kid?” Prompto said. The huddled form crawled from under the bed and Prompto lost his grip on the rapidas. Luckily, it was on a strap. Though the kid was like three, and all chubby cheeks, and _blond_ , it was a mini- _Noctis_.

“Are you friend?” the kid asked.

“Sure am. Here to get you to safety kiddo. What’s your name?” Prompto asked crouching down to eye level.

“Solis!”

“I’m Prompto,” Prompto said.

“Prompto!” Solis said with a grin.

“So, we’re going to get out of here and get to somewhere safer, ok Solis?” Prompto said.

“Ok,” Solis held his arms up. It took a moment. _He wants held_. _Probably should, it’s a bit dangerous in here._

“Ok, but first you need to put on shoes and a coat, because it’s cold outside,” Prompto said. Solis nodded and pointed to his dresser and the small closet. Right. Too little to do it himself. Prompto walked over and found a small white parka and pair of black boots. He also dug out a pair of yellow chocobo socks. Kid after his own heart. Prompto pulled the socks on for Solis and helped the three year old into his boots and he tied them. The kid had his arms out for the jacket. Prompto zipped it up snug.

“I bring Mr. Moogle?” Solis asked.

“Mr. Moogle can come too,” Prompto said. Solis crawled under the bed and came out with a small moogle doll tucked under an arm.

Prompto gently took the moogle doll, unzipped Solis’s jacket, placed the doll in front and zipped it up so the doll’s head was under Solis’s chin: the moogle poof was tucked down to keep it from tickling the kid’s face.

“Probably better if he’s tucked in here. That way, you won’t drop him.”Prompto stood up and frowned. This was a very little kid. There was no way he’d be able to keep up. _There’s also no way I can carry the kid and shoot a gun. I know!_

“Alright, ever ride on someone’s shoulders before?” Prompto asked. Solis looked at him oddly. Prompto crouched down and grabbed Solis before he carefully arranged him so he could sit on Prompto’s shoulders. Prompto moved the gun straps to help strap Solis’s legs in place.

“Ok, it’s like this, hang on as best you can and we’re going to make a run through this place to find my friends so we can all leave for somewhere safer,” Prompto said.

“Are friends nice?” Solis asked,

“Yeah, my friends are very nice. They love kids!” Prompto said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Prompto was lost. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that. Not that the three-year-old on his shoulders knew where they were going either. The place was a freaking _maze_. Not to mention that one elevator he found refused to take him any further down than wherever the hell they were now.

“ _Babes Lost in the woods. Can you find the way out?_ ”

“Mean man,” Solis whimpered.

“Agreed, little guy,” Prompto said. The hallways kept changing on them thanks to Ardyn. Prompto didn’t expect to come face to face with the fashion reject after being herded down a hallway. Prompto lifted Solis off his shoulders, and carefully detangled the kid from the straps and set him down.

“Stay behind me, Solis,” Prompto said.

“Oh, what can you do for the little one whenever you can’t even save yourself?” Ardyn inspected his nails.

“I can try,” Prompto said.

“Oh, yes. Try and fail and traumatize that poor wee lamb hiding behind your legs. Great plan. Here’s what you can do to keep the little one safe. You can go back to your cell like a good boy and wait for your friends to rescue you, and I’ll promise to take such good care of the child,” Ardyn said.

“Not happening. Why the hell is he here anyway!” Prompto asked.

“Well, if the Emperor wanted a good, willing future puppet king, he’d need to raise him close at hand now wouldn’t he?” Ardyn said.

“Future Pup—He’s Noct’s, isn’t he? How!” Prompto asked.

“Oh, a little bit of _blood_ can go a long way. It was just a very hard time of getting a hold of the genetic material from the Oracle. Once that was accomplished, the little one came to be,” Ardyn said, “I do look forwards to seeing how the child of your delightful King and the Oracle turns out.”

“Yeah, well, tough luck!” Prompto noticed a keypad on the wall next to him. _Two can play at this game!_ Prompto waved a hand. The panel opened, and it was a space only big enough for a child.

“Solis, run!” Solis was frozen with fear.

“Run!” Prompto screamed before he opened fire on Ardyn. This snapped the child out of it, and he ran faster than expected through the opened secret passage.

“Oh, so we do this the hard way,” Ardyn said. He smirked, “ ** _Perfect_**.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Solis kept hiding from those giant monster men. He knew they were bad, no matter how many times the nice man in white with the metal told him not to be scared of them. He missed Grampy. He missed Mr. Man-in-White. He even missed Mr. Funny-Name-in-Purple even if he didn’t like the way the man smiled at him. Solis touched Mr. Moogle’s head. He had to keep Mr. Moogle safe. He had to be brave.He— ** _another monster man_**! Solis ducked into a hole too small for it to get into and tried not to cry, like a big boy. He wasn’t a big boy. He sobbed a little.

“A….kid?” He looked up and a man in dark colors was in the one who spoke. Solis looked up at him, through his tears. He looked….nice.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis, while dodging through the Keep from Hell, heard sobs that were distinctly those of another person in the small alcove he’d hidden in. He looked down and saw a shadowy little form in a white jacket huddled up and sobbing.

“A…kid?” Noctis said. The kid looked up at him with watery eyes that reflected in the low light. The kid ran and grabbed his leg and sobbed some more.

“It’s ok,” Noctis said, “I’ll protect you.” Noctis looked out and the Rogue MT was past. He slipped out and the kid stuck with him. So he picked the kid up and ran down the hallway towards a dormitory he’d spotted ahead. A jump scare from a just plain… _off_ MT made them both start a bit, but they finally made it!

The doors opened and they both were able to relax a little in the bright lights of the dorm. Noctis set the kid on a bunk and froze. _That’s my face_. He sat down, _hard_ on another bunk. _Why does this kid have my face?_

“You look me?”

“I guess I do look like you. What’s your name?” Noctis rubbed the back of his neck.

“Solis.”

“I’m Noctis.” Noctis studied the kid. His hair was blond, sort of the same color as— _Luna_. _Had they…forced her to have this child? How would they have even gotten my DNA?_ There was no denying this kid was related to him. Not with that face or his eyes staring back up at him.

“How did you get here, Solis?” Noctis asked.

“I live Grampy. Grampy gone. Mean Man did bad. Prompto telled me “run.”” Solis said.

“Prompto? You’ve seen him?” Noctis asked. Solis nodded.

“You Prompto’s Friend?” Solis asked.

“I am,” Noctis said, “Why did he tell you to run?”

“The Mean Man,” Solis said. Noctis had a sinking suspicion about who “Mean Man” was.

“Does Mean Man dress funny and have purple hair and yellow eyes?” Noctis asked. Solis nodded. _Ardyn_.

“You were very brave. Can you be brave again? We have to find our way through this place to help Prompto,” Noctis said. Noctis paused. He had only the Ring and now he had to keep a child safe? His own— _maybe_ —son with just the Ring?

 _First thing’s first. Get Prompto._ Noctis stood and Solis held his arms up wanting held. Fortunately the ring only took one hand but he had no idea what using the ring might do to someone touching him. _No way a little kid is going to be able to keep up with me on foot._ Noctis carefully scooped Solis up and placed him on his hip.

“If it hurts when I use the magic ring, you have to let me know, ok?” Noctis asked. Solis nodded. Come to think of it, his father had contact with him the whole time he bore the ring and nothing bad happened to him. Still, better safe than sorry. Noctis carried Solis down the hallway where a door marked “A-01” awaited him. He fumbled for the keycard he’d found in a random pile of clothing and swiped it.

 ** _Access Granted_**.

“Here we go,” Noctis said before he pressed onward. There was a huge walkway over a drop. Solis buried his face in Noctis’s shoulder.

“Not a fan of heights?” Noctis asked.

“Uh-uh.”

“ _Hahahaha! It’s all coming along swimmingly, isn’t it_?” Solis shook at Ardyn’s words. Couldn’t the man shut-up for five minutes?

Noctis picked his way through a bunch of MT bodies and leapt over one and that was a good thing because it lunged and blew up. _Ugh, that could have been bad_. Noctis was now having to be more hyper vigilant on the floor too. Goody. He saw a flash of movement.

“Prompto! Hey! Wait up!” Through the winding halls he chased a fleeting shadow, while ducking into rooms to avoid those strange rogue MT’s.The last winding hall led to an office of some sort. It was empty of people and monsters and had a couple couches against the wall. Noctis’s arms were killing him. So, he set Solis down while he poked about the room.

“What have we here. Clearance level? Nice!” He swiped the card through the machine.

 ** _Security Clearance raised to Level 2. Access to Level 2 zones authorized_**. Noctis picked Solis back up and prepared to chase after Prompto again.

 _How is he getting through the security?_ Noctis stopped. This wasn’t really Prompto! Ardyn’s done this before,

“Damn it!”

 _“Such a poor example you’re setting for your_ ** _son_**.”

“Shut up!” Noctis snarled. It was easier to be pissed off at Ardyn for that than to deal with—

“Are you daddy?” Solis said. Solis’s wide blue eyes stared up at Noctis. Noctis took a breath. It wasn’t just about him anymore. It didn’t matter they somehow stole his DNA, and Luna’s DNA, to…. _make_ Solis. In this end this was still his blood, and Solis was his responsibility. Noctis had to be the adult— _the father_ — even though he still had very little knowledge of _being_ just a regular adult. Let alone a parent! He had to be careful with how he answered a three-year-old. Even a smart one like his…son. _Six that was a weird phrase to think_! Yet, Ardyn never actually _lied_ to him yet. The truth was a far more painful weapon of choice for him, even _if_ he was fond of illusions and tricks. Plus, this kid had his _face_ and his _eyes_. Even if there was some sort of surgery for the face, there was no way of faking Lucis Caelum blue eyes, and there were definitely no contact lenses that he could see.

“Yes. I didn’t…know about you because you were hidden from me by people like the Mean Man,” Noctis said.

“Why?” Solis asked. _Oh no, not a string of ‘why’s’! Need to figure out how to end it before it starts!_

“Because sometimes grown-ups do mean things to other grown-ups because they can,” Noctis said.

“Like Mean Man?”

“Exactly like the Mean Man,” Noctis said. Man, he was so screwed and now he was going to drag a kid— ** _his_** kid—down with him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“ _Nothing like a bit of father-son-bonding in a life-or-death scenario, is there?_ ” Noctis bit back a curse at Ardyn’s taunt. Swearing in front of Solis, again, might end up with more taunts about his….lackluster parenting.

“I gotta go potty,” Solis mumbled. Crap! Thank the Six it was a boy. A girl would be harder to deal with since…well… a limited exposure to girls who _weren’t_ Iris growing up meant very little (if any knowledge) of girls and women and how…. _that_ works. Noctis dodged around a few more Rogue MT’s and found a dormitory. There was a toilet in it. Oh right. Little kid. Um…..

“Need any help?” Noctis asked.

“I’m big boy!” Solis said before he fumbled with his pants a little. Noctis unbuttoned it gently and let Solis do his business.

“I can’t reach sink!” Noctis turned on the water and found the soap, which he squirted some in Solis’s hands before he held him up so he could wash his hands and turned off the water after he’d set Solis back down. One parenting thing down in the Keep from Hell. Was he really going to drag Solis with him the whole way to reclaiming the Crystal? What kind of question was that, Solis had to take some priority here. First, Prompto!

——————————————————————————————————————————

Prompto woke up in a room, tied to chair in flickering lights. He was really, _really_ sore from the beating he took from Ardyn. He was also surrounded by MT’s. Prompto flinched whenever one stirred and began to drag its axe around behind it, just outside the bars of the room he was in. _Hope the kid’s alright. He’s small, he can hide in places those things can’t get him, right? The kid’s_ ** _got_** _to be ok_.

“ _Oh, Noct, are you sure you should be taking a child into danger like that?_ ” _Thank the Six! Noctis found Solis! Wonder if he’s going to notice it’s his Mini-Me? Of course he is! Noctis isn’t a total moron!_

“Like you’d leave him alone if I left him in that dormitory!”Noctis was close.

“N-noct? Noct!” Prompto yelled.

“Prompto!”Prompto gasped whenever he heard the distinctive screech of a Rogue MT, but there was also the sounds of breaking glass and wooshing wind? _What was going on out there_?

——————————————————————————————————————————

Alterna while holding a kid was terrifying for both parties involved. Solis was shaking a little.

“It’s ok. The magic only hurts monsters,” Noctis said as he hugged Solis close to himself.

“Where it go?” Solis asked.

“Another place,” Noctis said , “Far from here.”

Noctis looked at the door. It was marked A-03, on the keypad to open the door, which meant his security clearance wouldn’t work, damnit.

“Prompto! Are you alright?” Noctis asked.

“I’m fine! There’s another way in! I think!” Prompto shrugged in his cell.

Noctis looked around and nodded. He carefully walked down the hallway. There was a door marked A-02.Noctis opened it an leapt backwards away from the Rogue MT, and Solis shrieked a little from fright. Noctis stepped around it.

“Doesn’t seem like it’s going to hurt anyone,” Noctis said. He looked around and there it was, a thin corridor between this room and the room Prompto was tied up in. Too narrow for him to be carrying Solis through it.

“Ok, I’m setting you down and you need to follow me until I get to the end and then wait until I tell you it’s ok to come out,” Noctis said. Solis nodded to him. Noctis ruffled Solis’s hair with his free hand and the kid tried to bat his hand away.He set Solis down and began to skinny through the gap.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Solis was going to be brave for his new daddy. Mr. Moogle seemed to like him and he was helping out Prompto, who was also really nice. They reached the end.

“Wait here, ok?” Noctis-Daddy said.

“Ok.” Solis watched Noctis-Daddy walk forwards and monsters attacked him! Scary-Spider-Lady! He was doing that sparkly windy thing!

“Get out of my way!” he yelled. It was scary but so cool! His Noctis-Daddy was the mostest powerful magic man!

“It’s ok to come out now, the room’s clear of monsters,” Noctis-Daddy said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis walked around the corner where Prompto was chained to the chair.

“So, you found him. I was worried a little bit about the kid lost in this place,” Prompto said.

“Someone sure did a number on you,” Noctis remarked. Prompto laughed and hissed in pain.

“They don’t like it when you escape your cell and resist going back,” Prompto explained. Noctis snarled a little.

“Any idea how to get these off?”

“Ardyn threw the keys over to the left,” Prompto said. Noctis nodded and search over there. Solis walked around to Prompto’s front.

“Guess what? He’s my daddy!” Solis said.

“Really! Well, you look just like him, except you have blond hair, like me, and your Mommy,” Prompto said.

“She pretty?” Solis asked.

“Prettiest Mommy ever,” Prompto said, “Nicest ever too.”

“Found them,” Noctis came back. He kept his face down. His facial expression….he didn’t want Solis to see that. A few wrenches of the keys later and Prompto was able to move his wrists forwards and rub them.

“So, were you worried about me?” Prompto asked.

“What kind of question is that?” Noctis asked once he got around to the other side.

“Right. I knew I had to keep going until I could prove to you I’m the real me,” Prompto said.

“I’m so sorry,” Noctis said, “I—.”

“I know right? _“How could you have done such a terrible thing_?” It’s ok. You weren’t the only one to fall for his tricks,” Prompto said.

“I’m just glad you’re ok…..mostly Ok. What happened after I…..” Noctis trailed off.

“Later. For now, let’s find Iggy, and Gladio, and get the Crystal and scram,” Prompto said.

“Maybe change the order of doing that. We need to get Solis out of here,” Noctis said, “So, we need to get to Iggy and Gladio and then get out of here. We can….get the Crystal another time.”

“But the Crystal—.”

“Will keep. It’s a hunk of rock that daemons can’t get too close to without frying,” Noctis said.

“You sure about this?” Prompto said. Noctis looked down at Solis who stared right back up at him.

“I’m sure.” Noctis picked Solis back up before trying the doors. **_Access denied_**.

“I….did find out something. Don’t hate me for this,” Prompto held his right wrist over the keypad on the bars.

**_Security Clearance Level 8 recognized. Access Granted._ **

“How did you get that?” Noctis asked.

“Turns out…..I’m one of _them_. I mean I couldn’t exactly tell people I was from Niflheim growing up in Lucis, but I found out I was supposed to be an MT,” Prompto removed his wrist band revealing the barcode, “They all have barcodes, like me. Like…items. I have a chip too, that’s how I can….access places.” Noctis felt like he’d been punched. _That meant…..all those MT’s…..No time to think on that now._

“Since where has where you come from ever mattered to you?” Noctis said, “You never once treated me as a prince.”

“You…don’t care?” Prompto said.

“Of course not. Come along, Crown Citizen, we’re finding the others and we’re getting out of here,” Noctis said.

“Do we have booster seats in the Regalia for the little guy?” Prompto said.

“About that, the Regalia’s….toast. We had to wreck her to escape a train tunnel,” Noctis said.

“Oh. Sorry, I know how much the car meant to you,” Prompto said.

They picked their way through the fortress. The path back to the central hub revealed that none of the doors were higher than Prompto’s clearance.

“So, I basically have run of the whole keep because MT’s have to go everywhere, right?” Prompto said.

“You’re like a burglar with the keys to the whole place,” Noctis said.

“I really, am aren’t I?” Prompto smiled back at Noctis.

“So, I see you’re rocking the Ring,” Prompto said.

“Well, when you have no powers and have to rescue your friends you have to do something to save them,” Noctis said.

“So, I could carry Solis if you want both hands free for fighting,” Prompto said.

“You want Prompto to carry you?” Noctis asked Solis. Solis nodded. Prompto grabbed Solis from Noctis and it was just in time as a few snagas showed up. Noctis dodged and cast Holy at them, damaging them enough for him to use Death to drain them into nothing.

“That’s…..intense,” Prompto said.

“Yeah. I know,” Noctis said shaking out his arm.

——————————————————————————————————————————

They reached a central elevator and Prompto waved his hand Noctis smirked. Nice not to have to do a bunch of little fetch-missions with Solis in tow. There was another of those ridiculously high hubs.

“Close your eyes, Solis,” Noctis said.

“You don’t like heights either?” Prompto asked. Solis shook his head against Prompto’s chest. 

“Power’s off,” Noctis said once he checked the central elevator.

“Looks like there are terminals nearby,” Prompto said nodding to a few consoles. Noctis inspected one.

“Need a hand, Prompto,” Noctis said. Prompto shrugged and carefully joined Noctis. Solis was still tensed up.He waved a hand over the terminal, allowing Noctis to turn it on. He was already half way back across,

 ** _Power Partly restored to Central Elevator_**.

“ _The higher you climb…the farther you fall!_ ” Ardyn said. A strange massive daemon appeared and sent them all plummeting whenever it attacked the walkway. Solis was screaming and crying as they fell. Prompto curled around him. He’d already proven fall resistant before, maybe he’d be lucky again…..he hoped.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis sat up and groaned a little.

“Prompto! Solis!” Prompto waved off to his side.

“We’re ok, I think,” Prompto said sitting up. Solis was circled into a little ball and shaking. Noctis picked him up and wasn’t prepared for how tightly the kid clung to him. He could feel the tears flowing.

“I could, ya know, find the guys and lead them here so we can avoid anymore danger to Solis. Then we can just get out of here,” Prompto said.

“I doubt Ardyn’s just going to let you do that,” Noctis said. He rubbed circles on Solis’s back as the tears seemed to stop. The grip loosened and large wet eyes looked up at him.

“Are you ok?” Noctis asked. Solis shook his head.

“Where does it hurt?” Noctis asked. Solis held up his right wrist. Noctis carefully peeled up the sleeve to reveal a really nasty gash.

“Um, here!” Prompto ripped off part of his vest and helped tie up the cut with the makeshift bandage.

“That’ll have to do until we can get some better bandages,” Noctis said before he carefully pulled the sleeve back down.

“Mr. White!” Solis yelled. That’s when they noticed Ravus’s inert form next to Regis’s glaive, with his metal hand detached from his body and still…dripping. Indicating that this was recent. Solis wiggled to the ground before ran over and tried to shake Ravus awake. Much to Noctis and Prompto’s shock, Ravus’s eyes fluttered open a little.

“L-Luna?”

“No, Mr. White! Solis!” Ravus’s eyes fluttered shut.

“No! **_Wake up_**!” Solis glowed…..golden. _That_ wasn’t a Lucii trait.

“Noct, your kid has Oracle Powers!” Prompto said. Noctis nodded dumbly. **_Ardyn_** _. He must have had them…do something to Solis so he could have these powers, but why_? Ravus sat up gasping for air as the rest of his metal arm just…..fell off and he began to puke up black goo that evaporated in the golden light, which ceased once Solis passed out.

“Solis!” Noctis ran over and picked him up checking him over. Aside from being unconscious, his breathing and heart rate seemed normal.

“Are…you really Noctis?” Ravus asked. Noctis looked at Ravus oddly.

“Why wouldn’t I—Damn him!” Of _course_ Ardyn would screw with Ravus using _his_ face. Seemed fond of screwing with Noctis as Prompto.

“Hey, there’s a kid present,” Prompto said.

“He’s unconscious,” Noctis said.

“I see you’ve found Iedolas’s grandson,” Ravus said.

“He’s not Iedolas’s _anything_ , except a plan B if the Crystal had rejected him,” Noctis said, “Can’t you see the resemblance?”

“Luna! They—.”

“Relax. All they did was take her DNA and his DNA and mix them together without telling either of them they’d become parents,” Prompto said.

“You must get him out of here,” Ravus said.

“Planning on it as soon as we find Gladio and Ignis,” Noctis said, “We…can come back for the Crystal another time.” Noctis walked over to the glaive and, shifting Solis to one arm grabbed it out of the ground. It glowed and joined his armiger, despite the fact most of those were locked away by whatever was jamming his powers.

“All thirteen, boo-yah!” Prompto said. Ravus rolled his eyes before he began to dig around for a weapon.

“So, what gives. Why are you on our side now?” Prompto asked.

“I was always on “your side” or rather, it’s easier to work within an enemies forces to divert their attentions elsewhere than to harass a few small sections here and there from the outside,” Ravus said.

“You really _were_ protecting her,” Noctis said. Ravus nodded.

“I cautioned her against this, knowing the costs of the communing with the gods would be her health and ultimately her life,” Ravus said.

“What?!” Noctis froze. All this time he thought—.

“Whoa, so merely talking to, and waking up, those gods was _killing her_ and she did it anyway?” Prompto said.

“That’s why you wanted to take my place, wasn’t it? So, you could stop Luna from dying,” Noctis said.

“It was all in vain. The gods don’t take well to meddling with their plans,” Ravus said, “Though, now we have a child who, if their plans were followed to the letter, should never have existed, and does.”

“Score one for science?” Prompto shrugged at the looks he was given.

“Are you telling me that Luna knew she was going to die?” Noctis asked.

“Yes,” Ravus said.

“Then that means, all this time I couldn’t have saved her. All this, and I’d still have failed her,” Noctis snarled, “Then what was the point of it!”

“The world is!” Ravus snapped.

“The world. A lot of good **one** person can do it,” Noctis said.

“Enough! We have other things to worry about,” Ravus said, “Such as getting through this trap we’re in.”

“Fine,” Noctis said, “Since you’re down an arm, you’re carrying Solis. Prompto, see if you can steal any guns off the MT’s so you can cover us.”

“Gotcha!” Prompto said. Ravus held out his arm and Noctis placed Solis in his grasp, awkwardly.

“Got an idea!” Prompto stole a few belts off of downed MT’s and made a sort of harness and used it to strap Solis to Ravus, not too tightly, but snug enough to help the one armed man carry Solis. Prompto also found several clips of ammo, a few Rapidas submachine guns, a Sagitta rifle and an Alea bazooka. Ravus had his regular sword at his side, just in case anything got past Noctis and his sword and magic or Prompto and his weaponry. Which was good because two MT Axemen attacked Noctis and Prompto, who walked ahead.

“This’ll do nicely,” Noctis said glancing at the sword. Ardyn’s malicious chuckle made them all groan.

“ _Can’t you simply taste the air of foreboding_?” 

“Can’t he ever taste the air of **shut-up** ,” Prompto muttered.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The weak little daemons went down _so_ much easier to the sword than just using the Ring alone.

“A rest area’s up ahead!” Prompto pointed to it.

“I think we could all do with a rest,” Noctis said. They entered it and Prompto unloaded his arsenal and helped Ravus with the straps to release Solis while Noctis dismissed his sword.

“Ok, let’s get a better look at that cut on his arm,” Noctis said. Prompto nodded and set Solis down. After unzipping the parka, and setting Mr. Moogle to the side, Noctis carefully pulled Solis’s arm out of the sleeve and undid the badge to reveal the cut was healed.

“Must have been part of his glowy magic,” Prompto said. Noctis shrugged before he ducked into the bathroom to quickly use the makeshift bandage as a rag to wipe the blood off.

“How did that happen?” Ravus asked.

“Ardyn,” Noctis said, “Sent some sort of daemon at us that sent us down to where you were.”

“Luckily, I’m pretty uh…. _fall resistant_ , so I was able to cushion Solis,” Prompto said.

“Chances are your other retainers are much farther up. Ardyn….seems to have some other agenda concerning you and that Crystal,” Ravus said.

“Tell me about it. His help just seems so….weird,” Noctis said. Ravus just stared at him.

“I should have known it wasn’t you before. You’d have _never_ used a word like “sycophancy” in a sentence,” Ravus remarked.

“Got me there,” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Solis woke up, but his head hurt and his tummy was rumbly. He was in another bunk room. Noctis-Daddy and Mr. White and Prompto were all ok! He reached for Mr. Moogle, only to find he wasn’t in his jacket! He sat up and looked around. There he was. He snatched Mr. Moogle up, holding him close.

“Hey, he’s awake!” Prompto said.

“How are you feeling?” Noctis-Daddy asked.

“Ok. Where Mr. White’s arm?” Solis asked.

“It fell off,” he said, “You can call me “Ravus” instead of Mr. White.”

“Ra-fus. Ok!” Rafus was shorter than Mr. White. It was a funny name.

“I’m hungry.” The three exchanged looks before Noctis-Daddy spoke,

“Sorry, we don’t know where any food is—.”

“Found something!” Prompto held up a metal box. He opened it and frowned, “Granola bars? Lame.”

“Better than nothing,” Noctis-Daddy said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis opened a granola bar and offered it to Solis who took a nibble before scarfing it down.

“Safe to say, he likes granola,” Noctis said offering him another. Noctis, Ravus (with some difficulty) and Prompto all had a bar too.

“I’m hungry enough, that I might even eat vegetables,” Noctis said.

“Veggies icky,” Solis said.

“Smart kid,” Noctis said.

“Great, he could have inherited any other trait but picky eating made it through,” Prompto said.

“My dad didn’t like veggies either. Face it, it’s a Lucii thing,” Noctis said.

“What’s Lucy-eye?” Solis asked.

“It’s a fancy name for our family,” Noctis said.

“Oh. Ok!” Solis hopped off the bed and went into the bathroom struggling to get the door shut.

“He’s a big boy,” Noctis said when the others looked at him.

“I need sink!” Noctis walked over and ignored Prompto’s snickers.

——————————————————————————————————————————

With Solis zipped up in his parka and again strapped to Ravus, they set out. A few steps down the corridor and Ardyn had to speak again,

“ _Did you hear that? Something’s out there_.”

“Why’s Mean Man talking?” Solis asked.

“Because he has nothing better to do, apparently,” Ravus said. They walked a few steps more whenever green smoke began to pour out, making everyone cough and choke.

“ _A-ha! Well, can’t say I didn’t warn you._ ”

“There’s no way through this,” Noctis choked out.

“This way,” Prompto gestured for Noctis and Rvus to follow him. A room? They entered it and it was a few moments of sweet relief because the gas was absent.There were giant fans, which seemed to be keeping it at bay.

“Stay here with Solis. We’ll find the source and shut this off!” Noctis said before daemons appeared. He and Prompto took them out in short order before they left the room, going back into the thick noxious gas. Noctis and Prompto then had to fight their way through the daemons that spawned in this, as if gas that was acting like poison wasn’t enough of an obstacle.Finally reaching some sort of control room, Prompto and Noctis fumbled with the keys to get the fans on to vent the gas.

“Oh, it’s stopping. That was close!” Noctis panted once he had fresh-ish air to breath.

“ _Oh, you’re such teases_.”

“Won’t be calling me that once I figure out how to disable the PA system,” Prompto muttered.

“ _Promises, Promises_.”

“Let’s just get back to Ravus and Solis,” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis saw that Ravus had left already.

“The moment I heard his taunt, I presumed you’d taken care of the fumes,” Ravus said.

“That and an MT axeman—watch out!” Prompto pulled them to the side as another rogue MT attacked. Noctis and Prompto took it out and sighed in relief.

“We need to keep moving.” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Several MT attacks, and daemon attacks later they’d found a room with a vending machine.

“Thank the Six,” Prompto moaned before he stuck some gil in the machine to get an energy drink, which he promptly chugged, much to Ravus’s horror. He looked over at Noctis who shrugged.

“I only buy them because my powers turn them into something useful,” Noctis explained. He bought as many potions, elixirs and ethers as he could, while also buying a few snacks and juice boxes for later, if Solis got hungry again.

“How you carry much?” Solis asked.

“Magic,” Noctis said, “It makes it so my pockets can hold pretty much anything I want.”

“Wow,” Solis said. He held Mr. Moogle and tried to stuff him in his pocket until Mr. Moogle flashed with blue-white lights.

“Just like that,” Noctis said with a grin.

“How I get back?” Solis asked.

“Focus on Mr. Moogle,” Noctis said. Solis frowned and focused and Mr. Moogle came back. He smiled.

“It’ll be safer for him if you tuck him back in your magic pocket,” Noctis said.

“Ok,” Mr. Moogle vanished again. Noctis saw a security card updater and swiped his card through it.

 ** _Security Clearance raised to Level 4. Access to Level 4 Zones authorized_**.

“Dude, you don’t need that, you’ve got me!” Prompto said.

“What if we get split up?” Noctis asked.

“Ok, fair point,” Prompto said.

“I also happen to carry a high clearance for Security,” Ravus said.

“I forgot about that,” Noctis said tucking the card away. The next area was over another walkway.

“What’s with this place and heights?” Prompto whimpered.

“Iedolas’s delusions of grandeur,” Ravus said.

“Oh.”

“Get back!” Noctis shoved them back as the room ahead of them sprung to life with MT’s _everywhere_.He flung his arm in the arm and cast Alterna, emptying the room of monsters.

“That’s….a spell,” Prompto said.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just find Iggy and Gladio,” Noctis said crushing an ether.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“ _Lord Ravus, it would seem you’ve settled into being a babysitter for both Noctis and the child_.” Ravus grit his teeth. Trust Ardyn to see keeping a child safe as something to degrade someone over.

“Yeah because no kid with any sort of brains would ever go near him,” Noctis said.

“Mean Man too noisy,” Solis said.

“Got that right, little guy!” Prompto said.

“ _I’m beginning to have grave doubts about your friends._ ”

“Chances are he’s only trying to elevate your anxiety levels in hopes you will do something foolish,” Ravus said.

“More foolish than running around carrying a toddler with one arm and casting magic with the other?” Noctis asked.

“Yes. Nothing comes to mind, but yes,” Ravus said.

“Here’s another elevator!” Prompto cheered.

“ _Tragedy could strike at any moment_.”

“Great, that means another deamon is going to show up and smash us down to the depths, doesn’t it?” Prompto moaned.

“I hope not, but just in case we should keep on guard,” Noctis said.

“As opposed to not?” Ravus snapped. Noctis pressed the button for the elevator and nothing happened. Prompto looked back,

“Watch out!” Noctis and Ravus leapt away from the Foras daemon.

“Iedolas,” Ravus snarled. The daemon turned its/his head towards Ravus.

“ ** _You….vile…traitor!_** ”

“ _That’s_ the Emperor?!” Noctis gasped.

“Yes. A fact you were sheltered from: the true extent of the scourge,” Ravus said.

“All this time I was killing people,” Noctis said.

“You couldn’t save them. No one can. Not even Luna could,” Ravus said, “They are simply too far gone to be helped.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Solis, meanwhile was confused. Grampy was often called “His Radio” and “Emperor” but they were saying this monster trying to hurt them was the Emperor. That meant he was—.

“Grampy?” Solis asked.

“ ** _Hand….over….my….heir!_** ” Solis screamed whenever the long claws came too close to him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Ravus slashed at the claws, clumsily with his subdominant arm. It worked, in so much as it got the Foras Iedolas had become to back off right into some of Prompto’s bullets and Noctis’s magic. _The elevator had arrived at last_. Ravus made a mad dash for it and soon Noctis and Prompto joined him.

“All this time they were people,” Noctis said.

“It’ll be ok buddy. If the Oracle couldn’t help them, then putting them out of their misery was a good thing, right?” Prompto said.

“It was the only thing anyone can do once daemonification is complete,” Ravus said.

“So….we have to put them down like animals?” Noctis said.

“Oracles have tried and failed to revert daemons to human form,” Ravus said.

“So…any idea why Noct’s powers aren’t working?” Prompto asked.

“There is a device in the throne room that jams the Crystal’s energy, and those who rely on its magic find their abilities similarly jammed,” Ravus said.

“Why the throne room?” Noctis asked.

“Why else, so that Iedolas could feel powerful by taking away your power,” Ravus said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

_Mean while, several floors up._

“Just Ardyn being a creep,” Gladio said. He pressed another button marked “live feed” and it flashed to show that aside from the arm on ground, there were no signs of Ravus _or_ Regis’s glaive.

“He survived all that? Guy just doesn’t quit,” Gladio said.

“Lord Ravus is alive?” Ignis asked.

“Looks that way. Let’s see if we can find another monitor or something to see where he went,” Gladio said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

They were faced with locked doors not even Prompto nor Ravus could open.

“Appears that they’re controlled by this and we’d need to cards to activate them,” Prompto said pointing at the three control panels.

“I’ll go take care of that, you stay with Ravus and Solis,” Noctis said before he walked through the only working doors.

“You ok buddy?” Prompto asked Solis. Solis nodded. He focused and Mr. Moogle came back out.

“Was….Grampy really bad?” Solis asked.

“He couldn’t have been all bad. I mean he was nice to you, right?” Prompto said. Solis nodded.

“Plus the Mean Man was also why he did bad things. He’d give him ideas for those bad things, but he’d say them in a way that Iedolas really liked, and then he thought those bad things were good things,” Ravus said. Solis nodded sleepily.

“Not bad, Uncle Ravus,” Prompto said. Ravus rolled his eyes.

“Explaining political intrigue to a small child isn’t as simple as it seems,” Ravus said.

“Got the other key card,” Noctis said. He noticed Solis was sleeping and winced when the child moved but relaxed when he stayed asleep.

“Next dorm, we’re going to need to crash too,” Prompto said.

“Will do, but first I need to get the final keycard. Here’s hoping this helps.” Noctis placed the card in slot B and a new path was opened up.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Another card and some power toggling later they’d found an empty room of desks and a vending machine. While Prompto stocked up on energy drinks and other curatives, Noctis poked around.

“All the patients went missing?”

“Daemonified. Often the process only leaves the victim’s clothing behind,” Ravus said.

“That means….” Nocts looked at the security card he’d swiped earlier.

“At the moment, we’re four of the only humans left in Gralea,” Ravus said.

“That’s comforting,” Prompto said, “I…..played with the guts a bit and emptied the machine. Figured the Nifs deserve it and all but since there are no Nifs left, who cares, am I right?”

“The food too?” Noctis asked.

“You betcha!” Even Ravus looked slightly impressed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

They practically collapsed within the dormitory. Ravus, with help from Prompto, undid the impromptu harness keeping the sleeping Solis on Ravus’s hip and set the child down so he could continue sleeping.

“Definitely a heavy sleeper like his dad,” Prompto said, only to look over and see Noctis was already out like a light curled around Solis.

“Does your King know your origins?” Ravus asked.

“He does, and he doesn’t care,” Prompto said, “Did you…ever see the others before they were all MT-ified?”

“Once. That was why your appearance as part of his entourage was so surprising for me, not just because of your appearance but also because I’d never seen an unmodified clone allowed to simply be human.” Ravus chose a bunk near Noctis and Solis while Prompto climbed into the bunk above them. Some shut-eye wouldn’t be too bad.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Ardyn stole into the room using a stitch in time to be in a frozen moment. First he stared at the former Commander. Ravus, when sleeping, actually looked his 28 years without the tension and anger weighing him down. He glanced up to see the little escaped clone of Besithia sleeping like a child. Limbs everywhere, mouth hanging open. _I do wonder if the estimable Chief was anything like this little clone of his as a youth._ The picture of the Chosen King’s little pet sleeping like that while wearing the late Chief’s garments was mildly amusing.

The Chosen King looked even more like a child in his sleep than his pet gunman. Curled protectively around one of Ardyn’s greatest achievement to date. True, while there _had_ been couplings of the Blood of the Oracle and the Lucii, those were usually with the **_sons_** of Oracles and daughters of Lucii. The Lucii offspring rather stubbornly looked like the rest of their line and had only the Lucii’s powers too.

Except for one Lucian Queen. Her ascendance as Oracle had been an amusing time frame. It had to have been the most fun he’d had in centuries whenever that occurred and he hadn’t even had a hand in it. Though, sadly the only residual powers were few and infrequent with her Great-Great Grandson having the odd premonition.

Though, this little spot of sunlight, he’d had specially made. Verstael had come through with his promises from the specified sex (male) and subverting the dominant dark hair for the bright blond mop that was a rather nice change of pace as opposed to the standard Lucii black. When pressed for other preferences, Ardyn was mostly indifferent except with one other area. He asked Verstael to attempt to boost the boy’s magical potential, just to see if he could. Despite this request, the boy’s healing abilities were an unexpected boon. The first Lucii since _himself_ to be able to heal the scourge. Ah, there it was, lurking beneath the child’s skin from healing his uncle. Ardyn turned to leave. What be it to him that this child end up like him. Then he paused. There was only room for _one_ Accursed. Ardyn drew the scourge out as quickly as possible shuddering as his deamons shouted in protest.

After everything else had come to pass, he’d warn the retainers, and Ravus, not to let the boy heal anyone afflicted with scourge. Ever.

——————————————————————————————————————————

_Solis opened his eyes and he had never seen so much green stuff that wasn’t icky veggies in his life. He reached for Mr. Moogle but he wasn’t there. He sat up and Noctis-Daddy was still asleep next to him, but Rafus and Prompto and all the metal was gone! He tried to shake Noctis-Daddy awake, but it didn’t work. He tried again, and again. Solis started to really get scared. A pair of soft arms wrapped around him and pulled him into a hug._

_“It’s alright.” A hand gently stroked his hair. This felt…nice. He looked up through his tears at the prettiest lady he had ever seen. She had nice blue eyes, and blonde hair, just like him! She was wearing a big pretty white dress._

_“Why he not wake?” Solis asked pointing to Noctis-Daddy._

_“Because, he’s talking to someone else, and only part of him is here with you,” she wiped away his tears, “Sort of like how Mr. Moogle’s pouf will fall off sometimes. Most of him is with you but the pouf will be somewhere else.”_

_“He’s a pouf?” Solis said. The sounded so silly!_

_“Where Rafus and Prompto?” Solis asked._

_“They’re still in the Keep with you and your Daddy. You’re asleep right now. This is a dream,” she said. Solis was confused. Dreams weren’t like this. Dreams were either scary or silly._

_“This is a special dream,” she said, “A dream where I can speak to you and hug you.”_

_“Why?” Solis asked._

_“Because I’m your Mommy, but I had to go to a place beyond dreams,” she said, “So, now I can only see you or your Daddy in your dreams.”_

_“Why you go?” Solis asked._

_“I didn’t want to go, but sometimes you don’t have a choice,” she said. Sounded like the reason his nanny gave for making him eat his veggies._

_“Even when I can’t see you in your dreams, I’m always watching over you both.” She kissed the crown of his head, “Now I need you to promise me something. What you did for Ravus was a very kind, and very dangerous thing. I don’t want you trying to do that ever again or you’ll get really sick, and then everyone will be sad. Can you do that?” Solis nodded. The world brightened._

_“You’re waking up, be brave little Sunlight, and I love you.”_

——————————————————————————————————————————

_Noctis found himself in a field of syllablossoms. He knew this had to be a dream._

_“The child was never meant to be part of this story.”_

_“Shiva,” he said looking over at Gentiana who walked towards him._

_“Would you forsake everything to see him safe?” Gentiana asked._

_“I can always go back for the Crystal,” Noctis said, “It’s not in any danger. Not like he is.” Gentiana opened her eyes and stared at him._

_“You’ve only known of him for around a day, and yet you’re devoted to his safety to the point of derailing your whole mission into the heart of the Empire. Would you choose between him and the Crystal?” Gentiana said._

_“You wouldn’t like the answer,” Noctis said. Gentiana smirked._

_“Oh, but I_ **_do_ ** _like your answer. The others, however, will not. Especially not Bahamut.”_

_“What does Bahamut have to do with—.”_

_“It is he who dwells within the Crystal and it was he who blessed your family line with their gifts in the beginning, and it is he who desires, above all others, to see this prophecy come to pass,” Gentiana waved a hand through the air as her form iced over becoming the Glacian. She floated into the air, and the scenery changed._

_“You were told of the Astral War, but you whole life you’ve been denied the truth of a great many things,” Shiva said. Noctis’s mind flashed to the true origin of daemons as well as the costs to Luna’s health to forge the Covenants with the Six. Shiva nodded. Luna knew all along that they could never have been together, not whenever she knew her fate._

_“It’s going to cost me my life to do this, isn’t it?” Noctis looked at her. Face blank._

_“As it is decreed by providence, yes. You will wipe the scourge from our Star, but it will cost you your life to purify the Immortal Accursed,” Shiva said._

_“_ ** _I felt death’s chill fingers for but a moment but then I remembered I’m_** **_immortal_** _.”_

_“Immortal….Ardyn?” Noctis asked._

_“I will intercede with Bahamut, but I will not be alone,” Shiva said. The scene shifted to the castle of Tenebrae. Luna was sitting at her desk in her casual dress._

_“Luna?” She smiled back at him._

_“I was able to speak to Solis in his sleep too,” she said, “He looks so much like you. He’s everything I would have wanted.”_

_“I wish we’d had a chance to be a normal family,” Noctis said._

_“I hardly think our lives would have ever been normal, had things been better,” Luna replied._

_“You knew you were going to die, but you still went through all of that for me,” Noctis said._

_“How I wish things would have been different for me, but I will try to change things for you, and for the future,” Luna placed a hand on her heart before she reached out and grabbed Noctis’s wrist._

_“Stay your course. Things will work out,” Luna said. Before anything else could happen the world once again changed._

Noctis was staring right at a very sleepy Solis.

That meant he’d woken up.

 

“Sleep ok?” Noctis asked sitting up. Solis nodded silently. His stomach growled. Noctis’s stomach joined it.

“I think it’s time to eat, don’t you?” Noctis said. Solis perked right up.

“Dibs on the crackers!” Prompto stuck his head down.

“Only if you promise not to take the pretzels,” Ravus said as he joined them. Noctis pulled all their “liberated” snacks out of subspace into a large pile of food.

“Dig in!”

 

After eating enough junk food to make Ignis cringe from half-way across Zeganatus Keep (Gladio gave him odd look but they kept walking), it was time to continue.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“What are all of those?” Noctis asked. There were _hundreds_ of boxes that reminded him uncomfortably of coffins.

“It’s where they store the inactive MT units,” Ravus said. Prompto shuddered. Solis, who was riding on Ravus’s shoulders at the moment shrunk in on himself a little.

Prompto waved his hand over the central console unlocking it revealing the emptied Imperial Throne Room.

“That machine is the source of all your problems,” Ravus said pointing at a bank of panels off to the side. Noctis summoned his father’s sword and slammed it into the machine. Prompto summoned his guns and cheered. Noctis switched swords and rolled his shoulders.

“Now let’s find the others and get out of here,” Noctis said.

“ _Where have your friends gotten to? Surely they haven’t run off without you. You haven’t found Gladio yet? It’s only a matter of time before Ignis bumbles into a trap_.”

“We’ll get to them in time, Noct,” Prompto said.

“Ravus, if you’ll fight with me, I can give you some of my magic to help you defend yourself better,” Noctis said. Ravus shook his head.

“I’ll stick with what I know,” Ravus said.

“Plus, with all of our weapons back, I can stick close to him and the kid and make sure they’re ok.”

“ **The ring….it’s mine**!” Noctis phased out of an attack from the Foras Iedolas had become.

“Ravus, get him out of here!” Noctis yelled.

 

Ravus ran out of the room while Prompto took up a position behind the throne and added the Sagitta rifle to his inventory, which meant it was now part of the Armiger and had the same unlimited ammo as his handguns. He aimed for Iedolas’s head and nailed the daemon right between the horns. A kill shot for anything else, but Daemons tended not to die like the average thing. Prompto barely rolled out of the way of an attack where Iedolas teleported. That’s when something clicked for Prompto.

“You’re totally jealous of the Lucii, you know that? You steal the crystal, you desire the Ring, and even now, as a daemon, you’re copying their signature move!” Prompto yelled.

“Should you _really_ be taunting the daemon trying to kill us right now?” Noctis asked.

“ ** _It shall be mine_**!” Noctis warped away.

“Ready, Prompto?”

“Armiger chain, _woot_!”

 

Ravus kept his intact arm gripping Solis’s legs against his shoulders as tightly as he could manage with the subdominant arm. Solis trembled with every shreik and every burst of magic.

“ _Prompto!_ ”

“ _Thanks, I thought I was a goner!_ ” A final spell, a thundara that sent Iedolas flying out; Ravus could tell both from the electric crackle, and the stray bolts that flew out with Iedolas, that that had been the spell.

“ ** _The empire shall span all the lands. By the Crystal’s light we shall flourish…. I shall arise as ruler of the world_**!” even in death Iedolas’s delusions of grandeur were unshakable. Solis was sobbing a little. _Of course. He’d been raised as Iedolas’s grandson_. Ravus would have time to be angry over that violation later. For now, he had to get Solis, Noctis, and Noctis’s retainers out of this keep _alive_.

“We’re getting close to the cell block,” Ravus remarked.

“Oh, right, there’s a giant bank of monitors we can use to try to find the other guys in the rooms ahead of it,” Prompto said.

“Then let’s get cracking,” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Prompto lead the way through the keep to a new hallway.

“ _Just in case there’s any doubt, it’s a trap_.” Noctis exchanged looks with the others. If he were alone, he might have sprung the trap, but with the others and Solis, he was hesitant. It was, however, the only way forwards.

“I’ll take point, Prompto fall back and keep Ravus covered,” Noctis said after a moment. He took a few steps forwards and he alone was trapped by the electric barriers. Prompto and Ravus, and by extension Solis were just outside. The electricity had caused Solis to shriek.

Noctis attempted to warp through the field and it didn’t work and most of his more powerful abilities were not suited to small spaces.

“I’ve done it now,” Noctis said.

“Da—dang! There aren’t any controls on this side!” Prompto yelled after he checked.

“Daemons!” Ravus yelled. Solis had his face buried in Ravus’s shoulder as the one armed man slashed at the swarming snagas as best he could. Prompto shot them off, but they seemed to just keep coming and even with unlimited ammo courtesy Noct’s magic, he still had to stop so the magic could reload the bullets.

“Noct? Is that you?” _Ignis!_ Noctis could hear him and where Ignis was—

“Hey! Noct! Can you hear us?” Gladio was not far behind.

“Ignis! Gladio!” Noctis yelled back.

“Noctis is in trouble!” Gladio’s voice said.

“There ought to be a kill switch nearby—find it!” Ignis said.

“How do you know that?”

“I believe that’s the reasonwe were brought here,” Ignis said. There was several moments as the barriers drew closer together before Gladio finally spoke again.

“Got it!”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The kill switch was activated and Noctis tumbled out.

“Took you long enough,” Noctis said after Gladio helped him up.

“You’re welcome,” Gladio said.

“Thanks,” Noctis said.

“After we were separated we received “help”—from the usual suspect,” Ignis explained.

“That Bastard’s playing us, but at least we’re together,” Gladio said.

“Hey guys!”

“Prompto!” Gladio stared at the blond.

“Missed me?” Prompto asked.

“Not hardly,” Gladio said. He smirked and nodded after he looked Prompto over.

“Is he alright?” Ignis asked.

“I’m fine, Iggy. A few scrapes and bruises but I’m ok. Um, we also have a major defector with us now,” Prompto said.

“Defector?” Ignis said.

“Can I really defect whenever I was actually a double agent?” Ravus asked once he walked into view. Solis was on the ground hiding behind Ravus’s voluminous coat tails, and his little hood was up and Mr. Moogle was hidden away. Noctis walked over and crouched down.

“I’m ok. See?” the effect was instantaneous. Solis latched onto him tightly, trembling. Noctis carefully scooped him up and stood. He glanced back at Gladio’s incredulous stare.

“What’s going on? I hear someone…sniffling and sobbing?” Ignis asked.

“There’s a **kid**. They have a _kid_ with them too,” Gladio said.

“There’s a dorm nearby. We could all use it,” Ravus said.

“Agreed. We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“I’ll go first,” Prompto said, “So after Ardyn pulled whatever the Hell he pulled on the train to make me look like him and vice versa, I ended upon the snowfields. Someone had “thoughtfully” left me a full set of snow gear. So, off through the snow I trudged reflecting on life and my own insecurities, like ya do when you’re in a bad situation. Black out and wake up int the First MT Production facility. The place is **Messed**. **_Up_**. Straight up human experimentation and cloning going on there, man!” Prompto saw Gladio was giving him a quirked eyebrow, but Noctis and Solis were giving him their rapt attention, “So, Ardyn shows up, tries to mess with me a little and turns out that this was where the first Magiteck Troopers and all the other scary nasty weapons came from, and MT’s all start the same way, and they’re given barcodes like….things. They are…they _were_ human at one point. They start off as straight clones of Verstael Besithia. Meant to be infected with the scourge and turned into cannonfodder and living weapons. Something I noticed fairly quickly was the unchanged adult clones….a lot of them looked like…me.” Prompto removed his wrist band revealing the barcode to Gladio. “So, while I was poking around, someone decided to leave Verstael’s audio-log cassettes about after leaving me an initial cassetteplayer and a first entry to find. I found one from 736 whenever someone broke into the lab and stole an infant, and it was likely a Lucian.”

“Which is how you ended up in Insomnia and not a killer robot,” Gladio said.

“Yep. But making all those awful things wasn’t good enough for Verstael. He decided to pursue becoming immortal. First test was an ape monster. The second one that he uploaded himself into after daemonifying—it was really _really_ traumatic too— looked like a giant….worm. I have a picture of it.” He passed the camera to Gladio after he flipped through the gallery.

“A metal worm with an electric razor for a head. You took this thing out?” Gladio asked.

“With a bit of help from everyone’s favorite Mercenary,” Prompto said, “Ok a _lot_ of help. She kicked my…butt into gear, helped me figure some sh-tuff out, and we fought together against Monster #1 while she drove the snowmobile while I took out Monster #2. We parted ways and that’s when Ardyn nabbed me…again. Noct found me and let me loose. The end!”

“You’re skipping a part there,” Noctis said.

“Oh right. Before Noct found me, I escaped from my first cell, rescued the kid, and then was recaptured helping the kid get away,” Prompto said.

“That explains why he’s here,” Gladio said pointing to Solis who ducked his face behind Noctis, “Doesn’t explain Ravus or the fact that this kid looks like a mini Noct.”

“That’s because Ardyn took my DNA and Luna’s DNA to make him,” Noctis said, “Solis, Gladio won’t hurt you. I promise.” Solis peeked out again.

“He’s so big.” Solis said.

“I’m supposed to be big. It’s part of my job to protect your Daddy,” Gladio said proudly.

“You really strong?” Solis asked.

“You bet,” Gladio said, “Why’s your hood up?”

“Makes me safe,” Solis said. He pulled it down which made Noctis smirk a little. Solis had a bad case of hood hair. He looked a little like a chocobo chick with how his hair stood up. Noctis carefully ran his fingers through the hair ignoring Solis’s squawks of protest to flatten it a little.

“We’re bailing. I took out the thing jamming my powers, but the Crystal will have to be taken care of another day. I want to get Solis as far away from this place as possible and get him to somewhere safe,” Noctis said.

“And Ravus is is here because he never truly supported the empire and desires to keep his nephew safe, I presume?” Ignis might have phrased it as a question, but the truth of it was undeniable.

“Correct.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

The movements of the Chosen King and his entourage were… _.displeasing_ to say the least. Perhaps he should have kept the child hidden from his sire and raised the brat himself as yet another obstacle for the final battle. Well, the cards would fall where they may.

“This will not change the outcome.” Ardyn turned to look at Gentiana.

“Really? Because the Chosen King was supposed to hate me enough to want to do anything to stop me and yet there he goes towards the exit without even attempting to get the Crystal. However, I can change that.” Ardyn turned his back on Gentiana pressed a few buttons. Unseen to him, she smiled before she faded out of sight.

——————————————————————————————————————————

“ _Uh, uh, uh. Wrong way_.”All the walls shifted around them changing the multiple branching paths to only one. Not even Prompto could get the wall panels to respond to his code print.

“Locked out Da-ng it!” Prompto looked at Noctis who just shook his head. He adjusted his grip on Solis, who after the trap incident would not let anyone _but_ Noctis carry him.

“He’s corralling us towards the Crystal, but why?” Ignis asked.

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to think that there’s something more to him aside from being immortal,” Noctis said.

“He’s _what_ now?” Prompto said.

“Immortal. The Glacian froze him solid on the train. I smashed him but he came back, as smug as ever and bragged about being immortal,” Noctis explained.

“Of course he is,” Ravus snorted, “He’s the Immortal Accursed, the Darkness you are destined to defeat.”

“It would seem we are rather in the dark as to the whole contents of this prophecy,” Ignis remarked.

“Now’s _not_ the time to really get into it,” Noctis said.

“So, I wonder how old the guy is?” Prompto mused.

“Probably rather ancient,” Ignis said, “Seeing as he knew that rhyme about Titan.”

“He’s also behind all the stuff the Empire’s been doing for the last thirty years,” Prompto said, “He wanted me to know that since I think he was definitely the guy leaving Verstael’s little journal tapes everywhere for me to find.”

“It would explain why he wanted you to destroy Verstael after he become that machine,” Ignis posited.

“Likely he found it amusing that Verstael attempted immortality,” Ravus said.

“Either way, he’s had a long time to plan this and we keep playing right into his hands,” Noctis said.

“Do y’see much of a choice here?” Gladio said. He gestured at their linear path.

“Let’s just get this over with so we can get out of here,” Noctis said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

They walked through a hanger bay and that’s when a ton of daemons appeared.

“We can’t engage ‘em all, run!” Gladio yelled.Noctis phased out of the way of attacks as he ran clutching Solis close. Ravus was dragging Ignis behind him as Prompto and Gladio did what they could to keep the deamons back. A Gargantua landed in front of Noctis.

“Ignis, don’t let go of him,” Noctis shoved Solis into Ignis’s arms before he summoned his full armiger. He warped forwards and ripped into the monster as quickly as possible. Prompto appeared with his bioblaster and he overloaded it causing it to create a mini blackhole that tore out chunks of the daemon before it evaporated with its radiation also doing damage. All in all, a very useful attack that wrecked the bioblaster.

“Into that elevator!” Gladio yelled. Noctis took Solis back as he led the charge one handed, the Engine Blade slashing through any lesser daemon that appeared between him and the elevator. Everyone else barreled in and the doors barely shut in time for Gladio and Prompto to skid in by the skin of their teeth.

 

Ardyn was waiting for them.

“You know, I’d pictured this going rather differently,” he remarked, “Ravus was supposed to have succumbed to the star scourge, you were to have abandoned your men to get here, and I’d have been able to make a dramatic appearance after you reached the Crystal.Yet, adding an extra variable to things can often alter the outcome.”

“Who are you really?” Noctis asked. Ardyn’s smug smile became malicious.

“Do you know the thing I love _most_ about prophecies? That they’re deliberately, delightfully **_vague_** so as to mean multiple people, when needed. For instance, the little Prophecy in which you find yourself. Did it ever occur to you that _you_ were not the first Chosen of the Stone? Of course not, you were raised in near ignorance of your fate, which made my job easier, naturally,” Ardyn straightened up his jacket a little, “There was once a time when _I_ was the one in your place. Then, as I was curing the scourge, I was deemed too corrupted and denied ascension. After which, a jealous man, who was not yet chosen by the light of the Crystal, usurped me and erased me from history with help of your oh-so-merciful Astrals.” Noctis took a step back from Ardyn in disgust.

“Ah, so you’re _not_ an idiot after all,” Ardyn said, “Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Ardyn Lucis Caelum. You’ll never guess who Izunia was.”

“What’s that make him, like your 4000x Great Grand-Uncle or something?” Prompto asked.

“While a crass way of putting it, that would be an apt description. No Lucii since has been able to heal the scourge, except this little one,” Ardyn moved to touch Solis but Noctis took another step back, “Take care to _not_ ever let him do that again, or he might end up like me. We wouldn’t want _that_. Now, we must really get down to business.” Ardyn disappeared and reappeared behind everyone, a red version of the Armiger floating in the air around him lending credence to his claims.

“Touch the Crystal to stop me, or I’ll slaughter them all,” he said. Noctis glared at him. Ardyn made the weapons flare and dance a bit which made Gladio and Prompto move to protect Ignis and Ravus. Noctis set Solis down who really didn’t want to let go.

“Don’t leave me,” Solis sobbed.

“I promise, I won’t,” Noctis said hugging him close, “Now, I need you to hide behind Gladio.” Solis nodded and darted behind Gladio’s legs. Noctis approached the Crystal and was stopped by Shiva. She stared down Ardyn and he shrugged before dismissing his Armiger.

“Here to ruin my fun?” he asked.

“No. Now go. Things will proceed for the fulfillment of Providence,” Shiva commanded. Ardyn bowed mockingly to the Glacian before he made his swaggering exit from the catwalk.

“Cold,” Solis complained. Everyone else was shivering a little too.

“What’s going on?” Noctis asked.

“For the sake of providence, originally you would have dwelt within the Crystal for ten years, absorbing its power, cut off from the world and everyone in it,” Shiva explained, “However, the Oracle begged for a different path to be considered. If you choose this new path, the time the world spends in darkness will be lengthened by five additional years.”

“So, I either abandon everything and everyone for ten years of darkness, or I’m with them for fifteen years of darkness. Those are my choices?” Noctis said.

“Anything else?” Gladio asked.

“If your King chooses not to dwell within the Crystal, he will be bound to it in another manner. For the fifteen years, he will be unable to be more than 30 paces away at any time,” Shiva said.

“I’ll do it,” Noctis said. Shiva glided forwards beckoning Noctis to follow her. She grabbed his hand and gently placed it on the Crystal.

——————————————————————————————————————————

_Noctis found himself in a floating…somewhere. Wherever it was, it_ **_glowed_ ** _._

**_“Your mind is in the Heart of the Star that dwells within this Crystal_**.” _Noctis found himself floating before a massive armored form: Bahamut, the Draconian._

_“_ **_You were to have dwelled within this stone to absorb its strength, forsaking the world as you prepared to take down the Accursed One, however a different path has appeared_ ** _.” If Noctis had to guess, the Astral of Light was peeved that Noctis wasn’t going to be trapped inside a Crystal for_ **_ten_ ** _whole years. Though, it was also known as the Prophecy of Bahamut which means he was probably nor pleased with any deviation._

_“Was he really a Lucis Caelum king?” Noctis asked._

_“_ **_Yes. He healed those afflicted with the Scourge, but in taking the disease into his body he became impure and the Scourge gave him Immortality. Rejected by the Crystal, and denied ascension, his hatred twisted him into the being he is now, bent on revenged against Lucis and the rest of Eos, plunging the world into Darkness._ ** _“_

_“How do I stop him and the Darkness?” Noctis asked._

_“_ **_The King of Kings shall be granted the power to banish the darkness, but the blood price must be paid. Many sacrificed all for the King; so must the King sacrifice himself for all_ ** _.” Noctis looked down at his hands before he looked up at Bahamut._

_“I understand,” he said._

——————————————————————————————————————————

Noctis came to in the real world with the othershovering around him.

“I’m ok,” He said waving off their concerns.

“Now the question is, how to move that thing and get it out of here,” Gladio said.

“Why don’t we call our favorite Mercenary and see if she’s willing to fly in and get us?” Ignis said.

“And I’ll try to figure out this tech to get the Crystal out of here,” Prompto said. Noctis nodded and felt a tugging on his pant leg, so he bent down and picked Solis back up.

“We’ll be getting out of here soon, excited?” Noctis asked. Solis shrugged a little. He had fifteen years. He’d make them count.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember how I mentioned at the end of my Fix it Fic [ _Make the Clock Reverse_ ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/12860244/chapters/29370303) that I had a new OC I adored? Here's a fic that resulted from that. This also starts yet another AU.  
>  For my fans of _Lucis Filium Alterum_ , don't worry; I intend to finish it. However, information that's come from _Episode Ignis_ has led to me having to rethink the next chapter, and beyond.


End file.
